Kobayashi company recalls supplement brands with ‘benikoji’ ingredient after kidney complaints by customers. Japan has ordered the recall of health supplements believed to have killed two people and hospitalised more than 100. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical recalled three brands containing red yeast rice, or “benikoji”. The Osaka-based drugmaker said on Wednesday that it was investigating a suspected link between the products and ill effects on kidneys. Benikoji contains Monascus purpureus,...

Rights group says President Nayib Bukele has reduced gang violence by replacing it with state violence. As El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele embarks on his second term in office, an international rights group has warned that his war on gangs has created a spiralling human rights crisis. As of February 2024, Bukele’s draconian two-year campaign, which has seen the authorities detain about 78,000 people, has caused 235 deaths...